Deep Valley

Mankato, Minnesota, is the setting for Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books. She appropriately named the fictional town Deep Valley. Imagine growing up in Mankato and seeing it as Maud did. From atop the hill behind her home at 333 Center Street she could look down on the whole town, and at a distance, deep within the valley, she could see the “silver ribbon” of the Minnesota River. Maud and her friends had these hills for a playground.

Maud Palmer Hart was born in Mankato in 1892, when the town was only 40 years old. Growing up in the hills amid the natural beauty of the winding rivers and the woods made strong impressions on her. The sights, sounds, and smells of Maud’s childhood in Mankato created lasting memories and stimulated her imagination. “I liked Minneapolis and other places I lived, but I don’t feel about them like I do about Mankato. I love Mankato and I love the people,” Maud said. At the age of 82, when asked what she remembered most about Mankato, she replied, “The hills.”

Excerpts from Maud Hart Lovelace’s Deep Valley by Julie A. Schrader.

Take a Virtual Tour of Deep Valley via Google Maps

If you can’t get to Mankato to visit Betsy-Tacy sites in person, you can still take a look at many places you’ve always longed to see. Check out our virtual Deep Valley Tour Map here. Click on the BTS logo next to the items in the menu on the left side of the map (you may have to expand the list to see all of them). If you don’t see a photo immediately, click the link that says View in Google Maps. Have fun exploring!

Lois Lenski’s Illustrations

Lois Lenski illustrated the fictional Betsy-Tacy neighborhood that is printed on the endpapers of Betsy-Tacy. Maud worked closely with Lois to accurately describe the people and places in the Betsy-Tacy books.

The real Betsy-Tacy neighborhood is located in the historic Lincoln Park district of Mankato. The Lincoln Park Neighborhood—named after the small triangular park in the northern portion of the district—dates back to the Civil War and was named in honor of President Lincoln. Historically one of Mankato’s most exclusive neighborhoods, it is generally regarded as the first true city park in Mankato.

In an article written for the “I Remember Mankato” series published in the Mankato Free Press in 1952, Maud writes, “As we grew older we made more trips downtown, pausing to play by the fountain at Lincoln Park or rest under the big elm there.” The little park was an important landmark in Maud’s Betsy-Tacy books.